Senate President Thomas E. Niehaus, a New Richmond Republican, said today he won't bring the heartbeat bill nor a bill stripping $2 million in Planned Parenthood funding up for Senate floor votes this year. Ohiosenate.gov

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected and a move to strip about $2 million in funding from Planned Parenthood have run into a Senate roadblock.

The one-man stop sign is Republican Senate President Tom Niehaus who told reporters Tuesday afternoon that he will shelve both controversial measures for the rest of this legislative session.

Slated to be replaced next year as Senate leader by Sen. Keith Faber, Niehaus told his 23-member Republican majority caucus Tuesday morning about his decision on the so-called heartbeat bill. The New Richmond lawmaker said he considered "a number of factors" in making his decision including "constitutional concerns" that the heartbeat bill might not survive a court challenge.

"I want to continue our focus on jobs and the economy," he said. "That's what people are concerned about."

"From my perspective, you have to look at the entirety of the work that is done by Planned Parenthood, and I believe that they offer much-needed services that are not offered other places," Niehaus said.

Tuesday's announcement seems to slam the door shut on both measures for the rest of 2012, but both are likely to return again next year when a new legislature is seated.

"I think this is all right back in our laps in the legislature in January," said Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Ohio, an abortion rights group. "I think in January these bills are on a collision course for the governor's office."

Copeland called Faber--the incoming Senate president from Celina--one of the most dedicated foes of abortion rights in the Ohio legislature.

The heartbeat bill would have put in place the most stringent restriction on abortions in the country by banning abortions after a heartbeat can be detected--as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. It was designed to challenge the 1973 landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortions until viability, generally thought to about 22 to 24 weeks.

It had passed the Ohio House in June 2011, and had been stalled in the Senate primarily because of the objections of lobbying heavyweight Ohio Right to Life, the state's oldest anti-abortion group. Members worried that the bill couldn't pass legal review and might cause other abortion restrictions to get thrown out as well. A compromise among various anti-abortion rights factions on the heartbeat bill had been sought for months, and as recently as Tuesday morning Niehaus said a new bill had been delivered to him.

One of the alternatives on the heartbeat bill being considered at one point was an outright ban on all abortions in Ohio, according to legislative sources.

The heartbeat bill has caused some heartache for GOP state senators who were targeted by supporters of the legislation with banners flying over the Statehouse, bouquets of flowers and stuffed plush bears with beating hearts in an attempt to get the bill moving.

Janet Folger Porter, head of Faith2Action, an anti-abortion group that pushed the bill, did not a return a call placed for comment Tuesday. She has said in the past that the heartbeat bill would hold up in court and that it was "the most protective legislation in the nation."

Meanwhile, the bill reprioritizing federal family planning dollars in a way that would effectively defund Planned Parenthood has cleared an Ohio House committee. A House floor vote on that bill has not yet been scheduled, and it isn't clear whether it will be.

Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, has refused to comment directly on either proposal saying that the Republican governor is "pro-life" and "supports polices that support the sanctity of human life."

Copeland said Kasich owes it to Ohioans who elected him to clearly express where he stands on the measures. "I think he's tried to have an extreme agenda when it comes to women's health care, and not get pegged with it," she said.

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